Samajwadi Party bags 60 district panchayat chairman posts

Lucknow: The ruling Samajwadi Party today tasted massive success in the district panchayat chairman polls by winning in 60 out of 74 districts, including two rebel MLAs who also displayed the winning streak.

"Of 74 districts, where elections for the post of district panchyat chairman were held, the party has won in 60 districts. The figures included 36 districts, including Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's Amethi, where party won unopposed. It's a big victory for the party," party spokesman Rajendra Chowdhury said.

In an embarrassment to the Congress, the party's Amethi nominee for the post of chairman of district panchayat, Krishna Chaurasiya had withdrawn her nomination on January 4, paving way for the unopposed election of SP candidate Shiv Kali Maurya.

The Samajwadi party, however had to face an inconvenient situation in Sitapur, where party MLA Rampal Yadav, who was expelled for six years yesterday, managed to ensure the victory of his son Jitendra Yadav. Jitendra won by securing 45 out of 79 votes defeating SP candidate Seema Gupta.

After the victory, Rampal said, "The victory of his son is victory of 'samajwad' (socialism) and defeat of opportunists. We are true samajwadis."